Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon killed at least 11 people on Saturday, including three children and two women, Lebanese authorities said, with Israel saying the raids came in response to a Hezbollah attack that violated the ceasefire (a ceasefire which Israel, which is the occupier of sovereign Lebanese territory, has itself never complied with) and seriously wounded at least three IDF soldiers, the Times of Israel reported yesterday.
The Israeli strikes drew harsh criticism from Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun, who accused Israel of sending a “clear message” ahead of the next round of US-sponsored negotiations between the countries. Aoun condemned what he called the “ongoing Israeli attacks” on southern Lebanon and “repeated violations of the framework agreement” and international law protecting civilians, according to a statement from his office. He said the strikes, including the attack in Ansar, amounted to a “clear message on the negotiation process,” but did not explicitly threaten to pull out of them.
The Israeli response was basically to tell Aoun to shut up and not use these attacks as an excuse to stop the so-called negotiations with Israel. Netanyahu spokesman Doron Spielman told AFP that Israel wanted new and more ambitious US-brokered talks with Lebanon following Saturday’s deadly attacks, which he asserted “should jumpstart the talks and make them much more serious, not do the opposite.”
